A SHAMLEY Green farmer has fired a broadside at Surrey Trading Standards, claiming the council-run department had wasted taxpayers’ money by taking him to court.

Edward Tilley was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £2,815 following the hearing in November but the prosecution cost the county council around £10,000.

And Mr Tilley learned this week that the bulk of the costs of his defence – more than £18,600 – would be paid from central funds.

He had first been faced with 22 summonses relating to the keeping of cattle.

These included allegations of failing to give reasonable assistance to an inspector, failing to comply with the requirements of the Tuberculosis Order and failing to keep an up-to-date register of his cattle, including the recording of movements and deaths of his animals.

Mr Tilley said the case had to be adjourned twice so the summonses could be re-worded correctly, before 18 of them were dropped or thrown out by the district judge.

He eventually admitted four charges of failing to record a movement of cattle on his farm, failing to notify the secretary of state of the movement and failure to surrender the passport of a dead cow. Each summons related to one animal.

'Right to take action'

None of the offences related to animal welfare, a fact acknowledged by the council’s Trading Standards department this week, although the authority insisted it was right to take action.

After the hearing, Mr Tilley’s solicitor, Richard Mortlock, said: “The council ought to be protecting young families from e-coli rather than causing tens of thousands of pounds to be expended in a prosecution for failing to fill in forms correctly and dispatch them within rigid time limits.”

A county council Trading Standards spokesman said: “We remember all too well the damage and disruption caused by the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak in Surrey.

“Surrey County Council’s Trading Standards service continues to work hard with the farming community to ensure that the risks of other animal disease outbreaks are minimised.

“Where important controls which are aimed at preventing outbreaks or limiting spread of disease are repeatedly breached, as in this case, we will take appropriate enforcement action.”

For more on this story, see the Cranleigh edition of the Surrey Advertiser , out now.